Saturday, November 1, 2014

Barney Wilen & Philippe Petit - Flashback

Few people will remember that, in the early 80s, Barney Wilen had all but disappeared from the Parisian jazz scene. It's true that he'd just come back from a long adventure — a voyage of initation during which he lost himself in the mysterious breezes and sand dunes of the African continent. For more than six years, he lived in Niger as well as in Mali, among the Touareg, Peuhl and Borogi peoples. In 1977, Barney suddenly reappeared in his hometown of Nice. In his own, unorthodox way, he tried to organise his own event there — the "burodujazz". He therefore staged jazz concerts in various parts of his town using his "jazzmobile".In 1984, angry at not having been invited to take part in the "Grande Parade du Jazz", he launched his own event on a beach in the south of France, near La Baie des Anges. It was a spontaneous jam session which was to begin towards midnight, and finish at dawn. When he heard about this project, Philippe Petit rushed down to the beach to play with Barney. They carried on playing together for the next few nights. This seaside expedition was the first step towards a musical partnership and a strong friendship. Their subsequent musical alliance was to be called "(N) et".Any number of musicians could join in, and "(N) et" therefore temporaryly became a quartet thanks to Riccardo del Fra and Sangoma Everett. "(N) et" also explored the realm of symphonic jazz with the help of 'l'Orchestre de Nice", 'l'Orchestre de Bordeaux-Aquitaine". Barney was then invited by Philippe to go to Paris where he was to play at Le Music Halle and La Chapelle des Lombards (original venue — these two clubs, have now disappeared). The success of these live shows encouraged Barney to get back to work on his saxophone and get back to grips with the excitement of playing live...

Pascal Anquetil, from the booklet

Barney Wilen

Philippe Petit

Flashback

Tracks

1 Blues Starch (Wilen, Petit) 12:42

2 Nuages (Reinhardt) 9:32

3 'Round Midnight (Monk) 9:35

4 Impressions of Paris (Petit) 2:18

5 Mr. Martin (Petit) 8:51

6 Flashback (Petit) 7:20

7 Mode a la Mode (Wilen, Petit) 8:06

8 Besame Mucho (Velasquez) 6:55

*

Personnel

Philippe Petit - g

Barney Wilen - ts

Recorded at the Jardins de la DRAC, during the Festival de Radio France, Montpellier, France ; July 19, 1986